BROOKVILLE — For the fourth consecutive year, and the 19th time in the last 20 seasons, the Bradford boys track team are district champions.
The Owls finished with a score of 92.5, beating Punxsutawney (78), DuBois (57), and Clearfield (50.5).
John Eakin led the Owls with another record-setting performance.
Eakin finished first in the shot put with a new district record of 61-6.75. The previous shot put record had stood since 1969. Eakin is currently the top thrower in the state.
He also took first in discus with a throw of 147 feet.
Jaron Ambrose placed in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.9, third in the high jump with a distance of 5-9, and combined with Matt Safford, Mike Bosworth and Donny Pattison to finish second in the 400 relay with a new school record of 43.76
Safford won the high hurdles with a time of 15.60. Pattison finished third in the 200 with a time of 23.07. Logan Caruso won the 1600 in 4:31, and finished second in the 3200 with a time of 10:17.78.
Mike Bosworth finished second in the 400 with a time of 53:10. He was also on a relay team with Tyler Kraft, Cade Hayden, Derek Sunafrank and Nate Blauser that finished second in the 1600 relay. The time of 3:31.17 was Bradford’s best of the season.
Sunafrank also placed third in the 400 with a season-best time of 53:10.
Blauser took fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 38-11 and combined with Kraft, Hayden, and David Allen to finish third in the 3200 relay team with a time of 8:45.
Steve Kellam picked up a win in the pole vault with a distance of 12-3, and placed in the long jump with a distance of 18-11.
Ryan Whittemore placed in three events: second in the discus (139-3), third in javelin (150), and fifth in the shot put (39-8.5).
Kraft finished fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:11.03.
Steve Knowlton finished sixth in the long jump with a distance of 18 feet, and third in the triple jump distancing 39-2.75.
Ian Paterniti was tied for third in the pole vault with a distance of 9-9.
Dylan Phillips was fourth in the high hurdles with a time of 16:62.
Bradford also had six boys who had personal bests on Friday: Quintin Minard (1600, 5:09), Jake Pattison (400, 55:92), Josh Mackey (discus, 106-6), Gavin McGee (triple jump, 35-6), Gabe Mitchell (3200, 11:16.97), and Ryan Cotillion (3200, 11:30.80)
For Bradford head coach Tom Tessena, it was his 25th district title in track.
“It was a pretty tough day to begin with,” he said. “Some disappointing things happened to start out with a fall and a few injuries. But, we finally got things rolling and pulled together.”
“The last two or three events were huge for us, especially the discus which got us 10 points
All in all we had a solid day. We knew Punxsy was going to be very good so we needed to do well.”
Tessena highlighted his four seniors, who have taken home plenty of hardware with the Owls.
“My four seniors (Eakin, Whittemore, Caruso, Hayden) have never lost a dual meet in four years. They also won districts every year.”
Tessena also wanted to recognize throwing coach Dave Cercone and distance coach Mark Kelley. The latter will be retiring after working with the Bradford track team for the last 19 years.
Bradford’s qualifiers for the state meet to be held next Friday and Saturday in Shippensburg are: Eakin (shot put), Whittemore (discus), Kellam (pole vault), Safford (high hurdles), Ambrose (intermediate hurdles), and Caruso (1600).
